JOHN WICK RSS

ACE VENTURA, establish the problem, first ten pages, INDIANA JONES, Introducing the lead, JAMES BOND, JOHN WICK, statement of intention, THE MATRIX - April 25, 2023

THE ALL-IMPORTANT FIRST-10

The first ten pages are the most important because they often determine if anything from page 11 on will be read. It’s a common wisdom among reps and producers that name talent (i.e. movie stars) rarely read past the first-10 if they don’t see their character, and/or if the character doesn’t grab them as interesting. Given that financing is frequently contingent on attaching name talent to the leads, those first ten pages – and how well they can introduce the lead characters – can literally determine if the movie gets made or not. The second key thing the first-10 needs...

DEVELOPING SYMPATHY FOR CHARACTERS, PART 2

Here are some other common tools that are used to generate reader/audience sympathy for characters, especially protagonists and antagonists. They care for somebody. The character is taking care of someone, perhaps an elderly parent, a sick spouse, a child. Even a pet will do the trick. This shows us the character is capable of emotions we can get behind: selflessness, empathy, love. This is why we will often see the tired trope of the character doing X in order to get money for an operation for their sick child/parent/etc. We’re willing to excuse almost any X behavior because we understand...

ON TITLES

The title is vital. It is the first point of contact between the script and the reader, and between the movie and the audience. When the audience comes to the theater and they look at the one-sheets and the marquee, the title is both the hook and the handle by which they shall make their ultimate decision: Which of these movies will they see? So let’s talk about titles. A good title accomplishes several tasks within just a word or few. The first task is to reflect the genre. We want to tell the audience what kind of experience they...

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